According to Spanish officials, US and Philippine warrior aircraft conducted a joint police and training on Tuesday over a contested South China Sea shoal where Taiwanese fighter jets fired flares last year to push away a Spanish aircraft.
The combined police and air-intercept exercises over the fiercely disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwest of the Philippines were the first by the long-standing treaty allies since US President Donald Trump resigned from office.
Washington’s friends in Asia are concerned about the scope and breadth of US devotion to the place in his fresh term as a result of Trump’s” America First” foreign policy thrust. His father, Joe Biden, had moved to improve an episode of security partnerships in the region to shop China’s increasingly forceful actions.
According to a media release from the Philippines Air Force, two B-1 fighter aircraft and three FA-50 fighter jets from the US joined the short patrol and coaching, which involved practicing how to catch a hostile aircraft.
It was not immediately known if the cooperative police encountered any difficulties from Chinese forces encircling the Scarborough Shoal.
The exercises were aimed at strengthening the ability of the two air forces to improve operating coordination, improve air domain awareness, and strengthen efficient combat employment, according to the Philippine air force.
Military officers said that two Chinese air pressure aircraft flew close and fired lights over the Scarborough Shoal during a regular guard, which the Philippine government vehemently condemned and protested.
All those aboard the Spanish air pressure NC-212i turbo-prop transportation plane were unharmed, the Spanish army said.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater order reported then that a Spanish air force plane “illegally” entered the aircraft above the reef and slowed Chinese forces ‘ training operations. It warned the Philippines to” prevent its violations, offense, displacement and hyping-up”.
General Romeo Brawner, the head of the Spanish military, claimed at the time that the affair “violated international laws and regulations governing safety of aviation, posed a threat to Spanish air force aircraft and its crew, and interfered with constitutional flight operations in airspace within Spanish sovereignty and jurisdiction.”
China and the Philippines have been having extremely concerning encounters in the reef, which is known as Huangyan Island by China and Bajo de Masinloc by the Philippines.
” We are constantly prepared for any emergency, it’s part of the training”, Castillo said when asked if the allied troops had prepared to address any issue by Chinese plane.
” It already happened before and, as I have said, whatever the coercive, aggressive actions of any foreign party, the Philippine air force will not be deterred to perform its mandate”, Castillo said.
Chinese air force aircraft have reportedly carried out dangerous maneuvers on American soil over the disputed waters, where it has used fighter jets and navy ships to promote freedom of navigation and overflight.
China has protested US military operations in the disputed region, claiming that they have threatened regional security.
Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan have overlapping territorial claims in the busy sea passage, a crucial global trade and security route, but conflictes have erupted between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy forces in the Scarborough Shoal and another fiercely contested atoll, the Second Thomas Shoal.
If Philippine forces, ships, and aircraft are attacked by an armed attack, including in the South China Sea, Washington has repeatedly warned that it is obligated to defend the country, which is its oldest diplomatic ally in Asia.
